FINANCIAL TIMES/ 24/2/2010 /Por Clement Crisp
María Pagés then took over the stage on Monday night in irresistible fashion. The programme identified the event as a "self-portrait" and went into unlikely detail. Happily, what we saw was an archetypal flamenco show in which The Star (and Pagés is certainly that) unleashes her artistry to musicians, singers and attendant dancers, and to us. The surrounding forces were eagerly responsive to her presence; design was minimal (for which, again, hurrahs), and Pagés, when roused, is absolutely tremendous.
She is an imposing presence with serpentine arms, the dance surging through the strong outlines of her torso. She has beautiful costumes. She also has, when flamenco griefs and scheduled moping are set aside, a delightful sense of humour. When the dance seizes her, as it ultimately must with any flamenco divinity, she lets it take its irresistible course, driving her ever onward and touching our souls. And she makes castanets talk. The men in her company are especially jolly, and Pagés, amid the whirling of a vast shawl, is a tempest incarnate, and glorious.
